"Sir!" said Spartan. He always insisted we call him sir. Now that bit of rank pulling seemed more important to him than ever. His eyes showed steel-hard determination to force me into submission; his lips were tight with hatred.
"I said 'Stop tormenting her!' and I didn't say sir!" I shouted. "Morrie tried to rape her. Can't you figure that out?"
"Sir!" Spartan snapped. "And how do I know you weren't the one who tried it?"
"Because, damn you, SIR, I'm her husband!"
Spartan's face flushed angrily. "That's no way to talk to your superior officer!" he snapped. "For this impertinence—"
He stopped in the middle of pronouncing sentence as his eyes fell on the water-purifying apparatus.
"You've wrecked it!" he shouted and sprang to examine it.
Axel was holding Morrie upright now and Gail resumed bathing my bruised face with refreshing water. "Let me have some of that water," said Axel, ripping out a torn piece of Morrie's T-shirt.
Spartan swung around. "Stop wasting that water!" he roared. "Do you realize we're dangerously short of water as a result of this foolishness?"
Gail continued to bathe my face with the damp cloth.